Kevin Garnett had 28 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and five
blocks to help Minnesota exact some revenge on Dallas with a
109-97 victory.

After posting their two worst shooting performances of the
season in a pair of 20-point losses to Dallas earlier this
season, the Timberwolves shot 57 percent (48-of-85) from the
floor led by Garnett, who made 14-of-17 shots.

"Our goal was to be aggressive," Garnett said. "The last few
times we played these guys weren't aggressive and we let them do
what they wanted. Tonight we concentrated on defense and that
turned into offense."

The Timberwolves jumped to a 28-9 lead behind 10 points from Sam
Mitchell and eight by Garnett and never were headed. They
pulled into a tie with Phoenix for the seventh spot in the
Western Conference.

"Touche. They did to us what we did to them," Dallas coach Don
Nelson said. "They jumped on us early and we never caught up.
It's impossible to come back after you get down like that,
especially on the road."

The Mavericks climbed back into it and were within striking
distance throughout, but Garnett combined with Mitchell and
Wally Szczerbiak to keep the Timberwolves in front.

"We jumped on them early, but that's almost a double-edged
sword," Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. "You know at this
level it's tough to sustain that type of intensity against
playoff teams, which they are."

Mitchell scored a season-high 20 points and pulled down seven
rebounds and Szczerbiak scored 13 of his 23 points in the fourth
quarter, when Dallas made one last run at the lead.

"When (Mitchell) starts smelling that popcorn of playoff
basketball, he starts playing better," Saunders said. "It's kind
of like he gets rejuvenated and starts looking ahead to the
playoffs. He's done that over the last three years and he's been
effective for us coming down the stretch."

Szczerbiak caught fire with eight minutes left following an
altercation with Dallas forward Juwan Howard that resulted in
both players receiving technicals. It was the second technical
for Howard, who was ejected and went after Szczerbiak until he
was restrained by teammates.

"We got kind of tangled up and I just pushed his arm off,"
Szczerbiak said. "He said some words, I said some words. I just
held my ground."

Following Howard's ejection, the Timberwolves made their next
six shots. Szczerbiak made three of those, including a
one-handed dunk and a 3-pointer that gave Minnesota a 99-80 lead
with 5:09 to go.

"We knew they were going to come after us and we obviously
didn't match their energy at the start," Nowitzki said. "Once we
picked it up, it was too late.

All-Star Michael Finley added 16 points, but made just 4-of-13
shots and committed five of Dallas' 15 turnovers.

Steve Nash played just 13 minutes and did not return after he
left in the second quarter with a tight hamstring.

"It was a precautionary thing," he said. "It's no fun to sit on
the bench and watch your teammates fight for their lives. But
the coaches wanted me to look in the future and see we have a
lot of games left and not ruin myself before that time comes."

Dallas remained in the sixth spot in the Western Conference and
fell one game in back of idle Portland.